MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, GREAT LAKES, AND ENERGY  
Public Hearing for the Administrative Rules Hazardous Waste Management  
Wednesday, August 21, 2024  
APPEARANCES:  
For the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE):  
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Ronda Blayer – Materials Management Division (MMD)  
Kimberly Tyson – MMD  
Jim Ostrowski – Environmental Support Division (ESD)  
TABLE OF CONTENTS  
Statement by Kimberly Tyson  
Statement by Caroline Liethen  
Statement by Jim Ostrowski  
Statement by Ronda Blayer  
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In-person and Zoom Public Meeting  
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 – 1:30 p.m.  
KIMBERLY TYSON: Well, good afternoon. As said, my name is Kimberly  
Tyson. I am the Section Manager for the Hazardous Waste Section, and I will be serving as  
the Hearings Officer this afternoon. So, I would like to now begin the formal public hearing.  
Part of the intent of the hearing is to obtain public comment on proposed revisions. There  
will be no question-and-answer session during the hearing. All in person attendees are  
asked to complete an attendance card like this one here if you wish to speak. Okay, so  
please indicate on the card by checking the appropriate box. And virtual participants  
would have the opportunity to speak after the in-person attendees.  
Please limit comments to 5 minutes so everyone has the opportunity to speak. Speakers  
are asked to speak and to state and spell their names before providing comment; and  
provide a written copy of their comments. The hearing will be formally closed after all  
indicated they wish to provide a comment have done so.  
I would now like to begin accepting public comments into the record. And first up, we have  
Caroline Liethen to get started.  
CAROLINE LIETHEN: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is  
Caroline Liethen. I am the Director for Environmental and Regulatory Policy for the  
Michigan Manufacturers Association, and I'm here to provide feedback on EGLE's  
proposed amendments to the Hazardous Waste Management administrative rules and  
August 21, 2024  
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Public Hearing  
have also submitted written comments providing additional background information.  
So, MMA appreciates your work on these rules and the consideration of member feedback.  
Ronda, you were very generous with your time, and we greatly appreciate it walking us  
through the rules. Your efforts to draft fair and coherent rules have been greatly  
appreciated and invaluable to the overall rulemaking process. It is imperative that  
members can anticipate and plan for requirements well in advance. And after reviewing  
the proposed amendments, I have a few comments to share.  
So first, MMA applauds EGLE's creativity to update Rule 204 in the Part 111 rules and help  
solve the longstanding problem associated with disposal of harmless chromium tanned  
personal leather products by industry. These products are often and intended to be in  
contact with human skin prior to disposal and are known to be harmless because they are  
tanned and innocuous trivalent chromium compounds. EGLE's common sense approach  
will provide needed and helpful relief to Michigan companies from the seemingly  
intractable problem associated with unclear language in the chromium exclusion found in  
federal hazardous waste regulations as it applies to these materials.  
Second, MMA also thanks EGLE for moving to adopt the federal airbag exclusion in Rule  
204. This rule will speed up the removal and proper disposal of defective airbags from  
motor vehicles helping to save lives and prevent injury.  
Finally, a proposed limit to onsite accumulation of hazardous waste to 6,000 kilograms for  
very small quantity generators and small quantity generators experiencing episodic waste  
generation events was added to the draft in Rule 316. On behalf of the regulated  
community, MMA requests that you remove this draft, Michigan only requirement, from  
both the draft rule and associated guidance. While the EPA allows states to write  
hazardous waste management rules more stringent than federal requirements, it is  
important to note that EPA does not impose a 6,000-kilogram accumulation limit on  
VSQGs and SQGs conducting an episodic waste generation event per federal hazardous  
waste management requirements for the VSQGs and SQGs, respectively.  
The 6,000-kilogram accumulation limits are conditional requirements as opposed to  
independent requirements, and as a result, can be waived by states for episodic  
generation as they are in the federal episodic generation rule to MMA’s knowledge. EGLE  
has not identified any episodic generation events that have occurred in Michigan where  
lack of a 6,000-kilogram accumulation limit resulted in a spill of hazardous waste or other  
emergency that may have otherwise been prevented with the accumulation limit in place.  
A review of requirements in all 39 states that have adopted the episodic generation  
provisions of the 2016 Generator Improvement Rule reveals that none of the other 38  
states have fabricated a 6,000-kilogram accumulation limit for inclusion in their hazardous  
waste episodic generation rules as EGLE has proposed. In fact, Ohio EPA guidance makes  
clear that no accumulation limit during episodic generation is imposed on generators  
through a Q & A, which poses the question, what if I accumulate large amounts of  
hazardous waste onsite due to an episodic event? And answers that, if you complied with  
all the conditions of the VSQG and SQG episodic event, then the quantity of the waste  
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August 21, 2024  
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Public Hearing  
generated and accumulated does not matter.  
Environmental operational regulatory requirements that are over and above federal  
requirements should be imposed by EGLE only after deliberation to ensure a genuine need  
related to environmental protection exists to help protect Michigan's competitiveness as a  
manufacturing state. EGLE's proposed 6,000-kilogram accumulation limit for hazardous  
waste to VSQGs and SQGs during episodic generation events is neither required by federal  
regulation nor necessary for protection of the environment in Michigan. The draft  
requirement is out of step with requirements in other states, chips away at Michigan's  
competitive position, and would establish Michigan as an outlier in unnecessary  
hazardous waste regulation, if adopted.  
The 6,000-kilogram onsite hazardous waste accumulation limit for episodic generation  
events should be removed from the draft Part 111 Rules and all associated guidance  
documents. A table with links illustrating these points is included in my written comments  
and demonstrates the absence of EGLE's proposed requirement in the programs of the  
other 38 states. It is critical that EGLE not put Michigan out of line with other states with  
this requirement. So, that concludes my testimony and I appreciate your consideration.  
Thank you for your time.  
KIMBERLY TYSON: Thank you. Is there anyone like to speak in the room?  
Okay. Alright. So, seeing that there’s no more persons in attendance that wish to speak, I  
will turn it over to our virtual participants.  
JIM OSTROWSKI: Hi Kimberly, just for the record, there are 55 people in  
attendance online. When people registered, only one person indicated they wanted to  
make a comment at the hearing, and that was John AL Aldo Walleye, and it looks like John  
is not in attendance. So, John is not in attendance, as I can see here. So, if anyone else  
online would like to make a comment, you can click the raise hand icon on your Zoom  
toolbar, and that will indicate you want to make a comment and we will unmute your line.  
If you are on the phone and looks like we do have a couple of people on the phone, you can  
hit #2 on your phone, and that will indicate you would like to make a comment to us. So,  
we will leave it open just for a minute, Kimberly, and see if anybody wants to make a  
comment. You can click the raise hand icon and let us know.  
Last call for anyone who wants to make a comment. Okay, there is no one that has  
indicated that they would like to make comment online, Kimberly. Okay. I will now close  
the hearing at 1:57 pm, and Ronda will now provide a closing.  
RONDA BLAYER: Alright, just kind of a few housekeeping things. The formal  
public comment, public hearing is closed. However, you still have, as I mentioned earlier,  
until September 4th, close of business, to submit comments electronically or through the  
phone. And if you're submitting them through snail mail, you may just make sure they're  
postmarked by that date.  
Comments, there are two ways you can submit them. Our section has went to use of an  
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Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Public Hearing  
electronic mailbox, so you may submit your comments to the mailbox noted on your  
screen, or you may submit them through mail at the address shown on the screen. There  
is no preferred way necessarily, they will both get to me.  
The draft rules are available on MOAHR’s website. That there is a hot link in the  
PowerPoint presentation, or if you just Google M-O-A-H-R Michigan, the website will come  
up. You will want to look at pending rule activity. There are pages and pages of pending  
rules, but again, you want to look for 2023-5 EQ. We do have, and continue to, maintain  
the Hazardous Waste Management Program Long List. We sent notices out throughout  
delivery to them. I would encourage you, if you are not already on this list, and you found  
out about this hearing in some other manner, if you want to be notified of future rule  
changes, statute changes, or just programmatic policy changes where we are doing mass  
mailings, sign up there and you will get notification when any of those activities occur in  
the future. You can also simply email me, and I can have you added to that list as well.  
I apologize. I know the number one rule when making slides is don't use acronyms, but I  
can't imagine how small I would've had to make the font for the rules promulgation slide  
without using the acronyms. So, I know I ran through them fast when we were talking, but  
this is a page of acronyms that if you are so inclined to go back and look at the slides, you  
can see what those terms mean. And oops, let me go back. So, with that, we are done.  
Again, welcome any comments that you may have by September 4th. My contact  
information is on there. If a question occurs to you after this hearing or when you take the  
information you learn back to your companies, please feel free to reach out and I'd be  
happy to help you understand what we're proposing. Thank you for attending.  
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